


The End (alternate)

by Kennel_Boy



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Aftermath, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 15:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4711748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kennel_Boy/pseuds/Kennel_Boy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Come home with me."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The End (alternate)

**Author's Note:**

> Answering the challenge thrown down by [becausedragonage](http://tmblr.co/mzbcukAbxz7x8E_9dkS_N1g) in response to my response to her response [to this prompt.](http://becausedragonage.tumblr.com/post/114614490987/jael-and-alim-19-or-if-thats-too-evil-warden) Definitely AU of an AU at this point.

Victory over the Blight left two brittle Wardens in its wake. The Archdemon had not died easily, and had it not been for a literal army of mages present to pour magic into the mending of gaping wounds, charred flesh, and shattered bone, both Jael Mahariel and Alim Surana would surely have died. As it was, the limits of magical healing had been reached all too soon, and the Wardens had weeks of recuperation left to them on Eamon’s estate.

Jael had been the first to defy orders, hauling himself, the dog, and a book to the foot of Alim’s bed. Alim truly hadn’t had the energy to argue with a walking pile of bandages held together by overly developed protective instincts, and had only shifted his legs slightly to make room, hardly looking up from the thick history tome on his lap. In truth, Jael’s presence wasn’t unwelcome. Stealing quiet moments to read was one of the few activities they had in common, and each was quietly reassured that the other was on the mend if his head was clear enough for reading.

Alim glanced up at the spine of Jael’s book out of curiosity, but his gaze lingered on the Dalish elf. Jael lounged against the Mabari’s sturdy bulk. Like Alim, he was clad in sleeveless, short-cut white linen that would not chafe too badly against still-healing burns. His mother’s necklace, a double-strand of delicately carved wooden beads, was at his throat. Bedrest had done nothing to soften the lines of Jael’s muscular body, though bandages did their best to obscure it. Yes, he looked in a bad way still, but if Riordan had spoken truly, they shouldn’t have both survived. No one had been able to say if it had been steel or magic that had struck the final blow at last, but one of them should have died. That they both still drew breath was a miracle that defied explanation, but Alim knew nothing and Jael, if he had any more idea of what had happened, was saying nothing.

A miracle. And Jael was going to throw it away by getting himself killed in the middle of the Korkari wilds, chasing some fool’s quest of a Dalish homeland.

“Come home with me.”

Jael blinked as he lifted his gaze from the farming almanac he’d been studying. His smile was careful, but it split the fragile skin of his lip nonetheless. “And just where would home be?”

“We can figure that out later.” Alim tried to regain his footing; it had been foolish to just blurt the first thing that came to mind when he had no solid plans of his own yet. But he’d lost so much already that the thought of letting Jael slip away – strange, woodwose, and infuriating a companion though he was – seemed too much to contemplate. “But it shouldn’t be in the middle of nowhere, chasing a dream that will just get you killed. You hate the Blight for what it cost you. Come with me to the Wardens. We can make sure it’s kept at bay.”

“You know I despise the Wardens for what they cost me almost as much as I do the Blight. It would be a bad mix, me and the Grey.” Jael closed his book, giving Alim his full attention. “Home is where my family is, Alim, and we’re going to the wilds. So make it easier for both both us. You come with me. Be part of my home. There are darkspawn that need killing at Ostagar, and mages that will need training once elves start settling the land. And I’ve been too long without a hunt-brother.”

And easy as that, Jael had pitched the offer back into his lap, except that what had seemed to Alim a simple yes-or-no proposition had been returned as a snarl of possibilities and hidden meaning. Even if he barely understood the concept of hunt-brother himself, Alim knew about Tamlen, knew what he had meant to Jael. This was no counter-offer made in jest. Jael had invited him to be part of his family, and now Alim had twice as much to think about as he had two minutes before.

“Damned wolfbrand,” Alim sighed. “You exist to complicate my life, don’t you?”

“Of course.” Jael opened his book and looked down again, giving Alim space to think. “That’s why I didn’t die on that rooftop; I knew it would leave you bored and content.”


End file.
